Scratch My Itch
by Otaku-Rehab
Summary: Which she most certainly was doing as she let out an involuntary moan. "Oh, God, right there, that's perfect. Please don't stop, don't stop." What's going through YOUR mind? KxT


**Yeah, I'm pretty much just avoiding writing the rest of **_**Ties of Love and Friendship**_** right now, but I'm feeling like some good old-fashioned fluff! And don't even pretend you're not nodding your head right now, because **_**everyone**_** loves them a little romance. Anywhore, this has pretty much zero relation to **_**Ties**_**, except for Izi the matchmaker and the Realization of Feelings amongst the idiot ones. A little OOC towards the end.  
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**Oh, and as a note: I'm dropping the "-chan" from Izi's name because it's just starting to annoy me. I'll think of a reason for it in **_**Ties**_**, but for now that's just what they call her already. Enjoy-eth!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Fruits Basket.**

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Scratch My Itch

It started with just one. A little pink bump on her arm that itched like a motherfucker. She waved it off as a bug bite and put a little lotion on it.

Didn't work.

More little pink bumps appeared, scattered randomly on her body as if some sort of god came at night and threw pinches of Itch on her as she slept. She tried, in vain, more lotion, but it did not subdue the irritating itch; if anything, it amplified it.

Yuki was the first to ask her about it. "Honda-san," he had inquired, that little look of question splayed across his princely face like spilled milk on the kitchen floor. "Honda-san, are you alright?"

"Of course I am, Yuki-kun," she'd replied cheerfully, although clearly she was not. "Just some mosquito bites, nothing to worry about."

"Well, if you're sure." Because he hadn't been.

But a few days later she could barely walk without the pink bumps on her legs rubbing together and causing a riot prickling irritation to erupt. Luckily it was a weekend, though, so she could just lie against the cool porcelain of the bathtub in relative peace. She was almost positive she could have just stuck it out for however long the bumps were planning on staying, if Izi hadn't caught her in the tub and insisted on calling for Hatori.

"Sweetie, even if it _is_ just a bunch of bug bites," Izi had said with that in-yo-face attitude of hers burning in her eyes, "then you should at least get something to _calm_ to itch. It only makes sense."

Tohru had reluctantly gone along with it.

With barely half a glance from Hatori, the Dragon had declared, "Chicken pox." He then proceeded to tell her not to scratch any of the bumps and what to put on them while Izi looked smug and a little relieved, probably at not having to be worried about catching it. She'd already gotten the stupid illness years ago, along with Hatori and Shigure and Ayame.

So Hatori left with the promise of bringing Tohru some calamine lotion by the end of the day and another warning about scratching. She was forced to lie in bed as Izi told her stories of her own adventures with "the pox" and the shittiness of it all.

"But it doesn't last forever," she chirped. "Give it a couple days and you'll completely itch-free."

By this point the rest of the house was aware of Tohru's condition. Shigure, of course, had nothing to worry about, and as it turned out neither did Yuki. The Rat told Tohru of the time he'd contracted chicken pox, and how it got so bad with his weak immune system that he'd had to be rushed to the hospital. Tohru nearly cried on his behalf and Yuki chuckled at her usual sentimentality.

Almost as if he could hear it, Kyo came in with chicken soup as soon as her stomach started rumbling. She grinned at his kindness and he blushed as their fingers brushed when he handed her the tray. They were so caught up in their little Moment that they almost didn't notice when Izi gasped.

"Shit, Kyo, you've had the chicken pox before, right?"

He blinked a few times, then stared blankly at her.

Yuki sighed. "_Baka_."

"Don't call me _baka_!"

"Then don't be a _baka_, _baka_."

Slightly slow because of her pox-induced fever, Tohru cried, "Oh no! Does this mean _you'll_ get this, Kyo-kun? I'm so sorry!"

Conscious of the mush that was him around Tohru, he shrugged like a Big Ol' Tough Guy who didn't care either way. "Nah, I'm sure I'll be fine."

He wasn't just fine, though. By the next day, his back was covered with pink bumps identical to Tohru's and he was nearly screaming in his frustration at not being able to reach them. He had just found the perfect spot on his door to move up and down on, getting the worst of the bumps, when Izi - flanked by Hatori, those damn traitors - appeared with a _Are you kidding me?_ look.

Hatori held up the pink bottle of calamine lotion and Kyo froze.

"Off with the shirt," Izi ordered with much more glee than Kyo was comfortable with.

He grudgingly put the lotion on himself and even more grudgingly allowed Hatori to put it on the hard-to-reach spots on his back (Izi was forced to put her camera away). He followed the two evil adults to Tohru's room for her check-up, and as Hatori look her over and Izi told more stories, he sulked at Tohru's desk, still without a shirt.

Kyo's shirtlessness was not helping Tohru's still-slow reflexes: while pretending not to stare at him - the boy was hot even covered with chicken pox and calamine lotion - she accidentally knocked over her glass of water _twice_, sufficiently soaking her sheets and making herself feel even ickier. In addition to feeling like she'd wet herself, she was forced to get out from under the drenched quilt and stand in front of Kyo wearing only a large T-shirt and no bra. Any more clothes irritated her chicken pox. Trying to be subtle, she tugged at the hem of the over-sized shirt and prayed that her panties weren't showing.

This, of course, was more than enough to make Kyo's face turn the same color as the calamine lotion on his back. Even with her legs covered with chicken pox and the same stupid lotion he had on, Tohru's legs looked miles long and so _soft_, even with the bumps. Like he could run his hands up and down them for hours and they'd never stop feeling like silk. Although, he'd seen her legs when she'd skipped shaving for a couple days, and even with the stubble she looked divine. She couldn't _not_ look perfect in his eyes, because in his opinion everything about her _was_ perfect. Even the imperfect things were perfect, because they _were_ imperfect.

But he sort of had a history of not making sense when with her vicinity.

Izi and Hatori were discussing something that neither Kyo nor Tohru bothered listening to, as they were too busy pretending not to stare at each other and pretending not to scratch their chicken pox - the calamine lotion wasn't working as well as before.

"Ooh!" Izi exclaimed as if she'd just thought of sliced bread. "You know what? Oatmeal baths!"

Hatori's eyes flicked to the teenagers, whose own eyes had grown to large heights at Izi's statement. He allowed himself a tiny ghost of a smile at their expense, then turned back to Izi. "I think that might work, actually."

"What?!"

"Um, I'm not sure..."

"Oh don't worry, it totally works," Izi explained, already halfway out the room. "I'll go to the supermarket right now."

"Hatori," Kyo growled, "I have to take a bath in _oatmeal_?"

"It's actually very good for the itching. Don't think I didn't see you two scratching before."

Tohru at least had the decency to look guilty. Kyo, however, glared at the doctor and flat out refused to take any bath that involved breakfast food.

"It's not like it will be hot or anything," Hatori tried to explain, but Kyo just wouldn't hear it.

"It's gross and I'm not doing it."

Tohru awkwardly scratched her arm.

"No scratching."

"Sorry."

Hatori glanced at his watch and sighed. "I have somewhere to be now. Keep using the calamine lotion and _don't scratch_. Get some rest, too."

And he stepped out the door, leaving Kyo and Tohru alone in a reminder of how little clothing they were both wearing. After almost a full minute of staring on both their parts, Tohru stuttered out that she was going to strip the sheets.

Kyo, blushing at the places his mind went when Tohru said "strip," went back to his room with the intention of sleeping. When he reached the bed, though, he could only sit and stare at the wall and think of her.

Meanwhile, Tohru pretended to sleep so the others wouldn't try to talk to her. She was quite sure that if she was forced to converse she'd simply blurt out Kyo's name over and over again, and of course that would get back to him and she'd have to explain and it would be all awkward. Which would not be fun. So she lay in bed with the black lace sleep mask Izi had bought her over her eyes and thought of him.

As they both thought of each other, neither realized how much time was passing or even how itchy they were. Somewhere between five minutes and five hours later, Izi returned with the oatmeal. Tohru heard her come in - loudly, as usual, since it was impossible for Izi _not_ to make a scene where ever she went - and then Yuki telling her that Tohru was sleeping. He failed to mention that Kyo was sleeping, though, which meant the next thing Tohru heard was Izi throwing open Kyo's door and squealing, "Avon calling!" This was immediately followed by Kyo yelling curse words at her and Izi yelling them back, only worse.

Although she knew it was bad, Tohru couldn't help but grin into her quilt.

Tohru continued to pretend to sleep and Kyo continued to be accosted by Izi, who continued to try to convince him how soothing an oatmeal bath could be. Yuki continued to roll his eyes at the whole mess and Shigure... Shigure continued to be absent because the authoress continued to not feel like writing about him. After a couple hours of mind-blowingly boring boredom, Izi sneaked into Tohru's room and whispered, "I know you haven't been asleep."

Of course she did. "Why didn't you come in earlier?"

"Because I find immense joy in harassing your dreamboat."

Tohru threw a pillow at Izi, who caught it and cackled at the reaction.

"That isn't funny. Someone could hear you."

"I'm so sure."

"_Kyo-kun_ could hear you."

Tohru felt the mattress dip where Izi sat down. She could practically hear the smirk in her voice as Izi said, "Tell me again why it's a _bad_ thing that he knows how you feel."

"You know why," she replied in a tiny voice, almost resentful and morose if it hadn't come out of Tohru "I Never Give Up!" Honda's mouth.

"Ah, yes, because there's _no way_ on this Groovy Green Earth that he could _possibly_ care about you the way you care about him." She fell backward onto the bed and rested her head on her hands. "Is that right?"

Tohru shifted awkwardly under the covers. "Well when you say it like that..."

"When I say it like that it sounds stupid and irrational? That's 'cause it _is_, Tohru. It really is."

Before Tohru could think of a response to that, she was gone.

On the other end of the Oblivious Love-Struck Idiot meter, Kyo stared at the oatmeal mix Izi had left in his room and debated whether or not it was worth it. On the one hand, his back was still covered in chicken pox and there was no one in the house he felt comfortable enough to ask to rub calamine lotion on him. But on the other hand, it was fucking _oatmeal_. He didn't even like to _eat_ oatmeal, and the idea of bathing in it nearly made him want to gag. At this point, though, he was almost willing to try anything if it meant momentary relief.

At least there wouldn't be any witnesses to his embarrassing act: Izi had been invited to a lavish dinner party thrown by one of her high school frenemies and had blackmailed Yuki into being her escort, to quote-unquote "tangle young meat in front of the starving cougars." The others had tried to point out that the women were in the twenties - the same age as Izi - and therefore hardly cougars, but she had insisted that it would drive the bitches crazy anyway. So she and Yuki donned evening wear - a dashing tux for Yuki and slinky black gown for Izi - and, after a brief fashion show for Tohru's benefit, left the premises and Kyo was reminded once again how very alone he and Tohru were.

Tohru, still in her room, attempted to remove her spirit from her body in a sort of astral projection. It did not work, nor did it stop the itching. The oatmeal baths popped into her head suddenly. Similar to Kyo, the idea of filling the tub with oatmeal and getting in was pretty disgusting to her, but - also similar to Kyo - there were itchy places that she couldn't reach or were itchy no matter how much she scratched. Supposedly and oatmeal bath was quite soothing. But... she didn't want to feel it in... _certain places_. Was it worth it?

She was struck with a _genius_ thought, and if it was possible to facepalm the brain then she'd have done it. She stripped of the minimal clothes she was still wearing and threw on a black and white checkered bikini, striding out to the bathroom with the hope that Izi had left the mix in there. But upon thrusting open the door, however, she remembered that there was someone else in the house that might be unbearably itchy.

Someone who might already be sitting in oatmeal.

Someone that was gawking at her, and who she was gawking right back at.

"_Ohmygod_!" she shrieked after an eternity of shock. She threw her hands over her eyes. "I - I am so sorry!"

"It - Tohru, it's fine," she heard him say. "I'm wearing... stop covering your eyes, I have my bathing suit on, okay?"

She parted her fingers the tiniest bit and peaked through to see Kyo now standing up in the tub, an annoyed expression on his face and globs of oatmeal dripping from his blue swim trunks. She let her hands fall and felt more than a little bit stupid.

In an effort to erase her faux pas, Tohru cleared her throat and pretended to be very interested in the paint on the wall, and in fact only making the situation more awkward. Kyo mentally berated himself and opened his mouth several times to speak, but ended up closing it each time. Finally, he told himself to suck it up and be a gentleman already.

"I-I can finish up later in here if you want," he blurted. "I mean, it's not really that bad for me and you look like you could use a... an oatmeal bath. It's, yeah, it's pretty good for the chicken pox. So if you - "

"Oh, no, no!" she replied. "You're already in here, I can't just claim your bath. I'll be fine, really, you should go back in before the oatmeal gets too cold."

"Well, no, ladies first and all that - "

"Really! I'm perfectly fine with just the calamine lotion - "

"Obviously you're not, or you wouldn't be - "

" - and I don't want you to put me before yourself - "

" - trying to take an oatmeal bath - "

By this point Kyo was out of the tub, dripping oatmeal onto the tile floor, and Tohru was trying to gently push him back in. He, however, was trying to gently push _her_ in, and as a result they were both gripping each other's forearms and inadvertently rubbing the chicken pox that lay there. Tohru was the first to acknowledge the itching and loosened her grip on Kyo's arms, then scrunched her face up and quickly started clawing at the pink bumps.

And, as everyone knows, once you scratch one pox all the others suddenly feel like they are on fire with itchiness. Especially the ones that are _just barely_ out of reach: namely, Tohru's back.

She attempted to twist her arms around to get at a better angle, completely forgetting she was standing in front of Kyo, who was just standing there staring at her again. Not because the sight of Tohru scratching herself was setting him aflame with desire - although, truthfully, it was a bit erotic - but because he suddenly felt _useful_ to her.

"Tohru, stop scratching."

"I _can't_!" she cried. "It's just so - "

Kyo grabbed her shoulders and flipped her so that he was facing her back, then started dragging his nails up and down her spine in a way that made her eyebrows meet her hairline. But her eyes were fluttering shut just as quickly as she felt the pleasure hit her in waves.

It wasn't that what he was doing was inherently sexual; she remembered doing the same thing for Uotani in middle school (Uotani had skipped out on the school vaccination). Perhaps it was because it was _Kyo_ touching her body and relieving her irritation, and Kyo was a boy with boy parts and boy feelings and all that. Tohru knew that there was much more to her love for Kyo than just the physical stuff, but that didn't mean she couldn't _appreciate_ the physical stuff.

Which she most certainly was doing as she let out an involuntary moan. "Oh, God, right there, that's perfect. Please don't stop, don't stop." Had she been aware of it, her breathless voice and suggestive words would have turned her face bright pink.

But Kyo was as aware of her breathy voice and accidental moans as she was unaware. This only fueled his fingers: up up up down down down, a large heart with just his pinky nail, then rinse and repeat. He loved that for once, he had a purpose, and not only that but helping Tohru.

"_Kyo_..." she groaned. She didn't wait for him to ask her what was wrong or even realize that she had dropped the "-kun" from his name. She whipped around and grabbed his face between her hands, crushing her lips to his.

To say the earth moved beneath their feet was and understatement. Not only was it everything they'd both dreamed of and more, but the earth _literally_ moved beneath their feet: the force behind both their movements accidentally knocked them into the tub.

The tub that was now full of cold oatmeal.

Tohru shrieked and Kyo laughed. It was cold, gooey, and kind of sticky, and at Kyo's laughter Tohru threw a huge glob of oatmeal at him. It hit him square in the face surprisingly, and he merely blinked before scooping up two large goopy handfuls of the stuff and rubbing all over her. Soon they were both laughing and drowning each other with oatmeal and everything was set on high. Then the throwing turned to more kissing, hands to mouths and lips to lips and everywhere else that their minimal clothing allowed. It was as if they were pouring every emotion and hormone and pent-up feeling into every moment, trying to compensate for all the time they'd wasted with their twisted song and dance.

Their bathing suits were coming off and theirs mouths were everywhere, but somehow they stopped before going all the way. Maybe because they were both still terrified, or perhaps it was because they didn't have any protection and while they were stupid they weren't _that_ stupid. Maybe it was all just going too fast. Either way, it didn't happen and they were both okay with that. So they sat naked in cold oatmeal and just talked until they felt the oatmeal start to harden, at which point they split a shower. More kissing and talking and overall loving the other, and then Tohru looked into Kyo's eyes and said, "Do you love me?"

She'd be kidding herself if she said her heart hadn't stopped beating in the half second it took Kyo to respond. He grinned and kissed her lips and whispered, "Is that even a question?" against her mouth.

"I love you more than my own life," he said after pulling away. "I love you so much it hurts." He kissed her again. "I love you so much I'll be your slave." Another kiss which they both smiled into. "Do you want me to be your slave, Tohru?"

"I want you to love me for as long as I'll love you," she murmured as he nipped her neck. The nibbling stopped when she finished, and suddenly Kyo was staring into her eyes in a way that made her realize how naked she was - physically and emotionally. But she still felt so safe, because it was _him_.

"I love you," she repeated quietly, followed by a thousand more kisses.

Later, after they'd dried off and cleaned up the rest of the oatmeal, they lay together on Tohrus bed and talked some more. About anything and everything and nothing. They laughed, and cried a little bit - from sadness and happiness both. Neither noticed how little their chicken pox were irritating them until Izi and Yuki returned home, bitching about stupid flirty old women.

"You guys still alive up there?" they hear Izi yell at the same time Yuki called, "Honda-san, are you alright?"

Kyo glanced warily at his love as if to say, Are you sure about this?

Tohru grabbed his hand and grinned as she pulled him off the bed.

**That was relatively short compared to my most recent chapters of **_**Ties**_**. But like I said, I'm just procrastinating because truthfully I'm nearing the beginning of the end of **_**Ties**_**. And the more I reread past chapters, I can't help but think about how much the first ones sucked. There are some chapters I'm geniunely proud of, but a lot of the rest of it is just horse shit.**

**But moving away from that, I'm just gonna say review and I have to go **_**right this second**_** because I have packing to do BYE!**

**Jax**

**P of the S) My brother has carved the face of Barack Obama - our future president if there is any God up there even though I'm an atheist and don't really believe there_ is_ a God - onto a pumpkin. We're calling it the Barack Olantern.  
**


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